22 Wisconsin counties backed Obama in '08, Romney in '12

Nov. 9, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at a rally in West Allis on Friday, Sept. 2, 2012, four days before the election. In Wisconsin, 22 mostly northern counties that voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 switched to Romney in 2012. / Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Counties that flipped for Romney

Twenty-two Wisconsin counties backed President Barack Obama in 2008 but voted for Republican Mitt Romney on Tuesday. Here are the counties:

County

2008 Obama

2008 McCain

2012 Obama

2012 Romney

Barron

54%

46%

48%

50%

Brown

55%

45%

48%

50%

Burnett

51%

49%

46%

52%

Calumet

51%

49%

43%

55%

Clark

54%

46%

44%

53%

Iron

57%

43%

49%

49%

Jefferson

50%

50%

45%

53%

Kewaunee

56%

44%

46%

52%

Langlade

50%

50%

43%

55%

Manitowoc

54%

46%

48%

50%

Marathon

55%

45%

46%

52%

Marinette

53%

47%

47%

51%

Oconto

53%

47%

44%

54%

Oneida

55%

45%

48%

50%

Outagamie

56%

44%

48%

50%

Pierce

55%

45%

48%

49%

Rusk

54%

46%

47%

51%

Shawano

52%

48%

44%

54%

Washburn

53%

47%

48%

50%

Waupaca

52%

48%

44%

54%

Waushara

50%

50%

44%

54%

Wood

57%

43%

47%

50%

More

ADVERTISEMENT

MADISON — President Barack Obama won Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes for a second time on Tuesday, but the race was much closer than in 2008 and support from many counties that voted for him four years ago fizzled.

Twenty-two counties that were loyal to Obama in 2008 — most of them in the northern two-thirds of the state — backed Republican Mitt Romney this year, according to a Gannett Wisconsin Media review of election returns.

“(Obama) won pretty decisively, but he didn’t win by the margins he did in 2008,” said Michael Kraft, a professor of public and environmental affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Statewide, the race was tighter this year.

In 2008, Obama defeated Sen. John McCain by more than 400,000 votes in Wisconsin, 56 percent to 42 percent. On Tuesday, Obama won Wisconsin with a narrower 52-47 percent margin, about 159,000 votes.

Obama won 59 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties in 2008; on Tuesday, he won 37 counties. Of the 37 counties Obama won, his margin of victory was tighter than 2008.

“That’s a fairly significant drop-off in county support,” said Joe Heim, a UW-La Crosse political scientist. “Some counties that were close four years ago are flipping to the other side.”

Pundits call Wisconsin a purple state, a place that two years ago elected conservative Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and on Tuesday elected liberal Democrat Tammy Baldwin to the Senate.

Normally, the state is a patchwork of blue and red counties. Dane and Milwaukee counties reliably vote Democratic blue, while counties like Waukesha and Walworth are Republican red.

Yet, in 2008 the quilt was largely blue, and Wisconsin voters helped Obama win his first term. This year, the story was different.

On Tuesday, Obama lost Brown County, where he campaigned Nov. 1 and Vice President Joe Biden campaigned Sept. 2; he lost Marathon County, where first lady Michelle Obama campaigned Oct. 19; and he lost Outagamie County, where the first lady campaigned Sept. 28. Biden’s wife, Jill, campaigned in Appleton on Oct. 22.

(Page 2 of 2)

Obama easily won Madison and Milwaukee, cities where he made multiple campaign stops.

“There’s pretty strong evidence that nationwide he didn’t get the same level of support that he did four years ago,” Heim said. “The level of enthusiasm, the excitement behind his campaign, was not nearly as intense yesterday.”

Ron Tusler, communications director for the Outagamie County Republican Party, said his county has a long history of backing conservative candidates.

In fact, 2008 was the only year in the county’s presidential voting history when it did not back the conservative candidate. Outagamie County backed Obama over McCain, 56 percent to 44 percent, four years ago. On Tuesday, it backed Romney over Obama, 50 percent to 48 percent.

Tusler said 2008 “was a special election and an anomaly in a very consistently conservative county.”

Kraft said Obama’s wide margin of victory in 2008 would have been tough to duplicate, given the state of the economy.

“This is not 2008, but on the other hand, he did pretty well given the circumstances, the challenges that he got from the opposition and all the outside money that flows into the state,” Kraft said.

Obama’s narrower margin of victory could affect his ability to lead the country, Heim said.

“Four years ago, he had a mandate for change, even though that’s sort of a vague term,” he said. “He was the agent of change four years ago ... this time, his proposals are far more muted.”